10 Mindset Tips for Track Meets
- Recharge your battery in between events that you compete in. Don’t watch a lot of the other people run, jump, or throw so that you can detach yourself emotionally and mentally while you aren’t competing. Get away from the track when there is some time to do so. Leave the area.
- Do not make the meet into an event. During practice, you’re active for multiple hours during multiple drills and even some competition among teammates. Competing at a tournament for continuous hours is no different, so don’t treat it as such.
- Don’t spend too much time looking at who you will be competing against. (1) All you need to know is where to go when it is your turn to compete. You really don’t need to know the name of your opponents; that shouldn’t have an effect on your performance. (2) Over-analysis of other competitors leads you to “looking ahead” and playing “what if” scenarios in your head. (3) Looking at other athletes can make the meet into more of an “event” which could add pressure. If you do happen to notice other competitors, remember that their looks have nothing to do with how good of a track athlete they are. Sure, some may appear at first glance to be intimidating, but looking intimidating doesn’t make you a better competitor!
- Stay away from negative people/small time thinkers. Upsets happen to even the best athletes and teams. Everyone can be beat because no one is superhuman. The only person in the building who needs to believe in you is YOU.
- Stay away from people who make you overthink or add pressure (certain team coaches, private coaches, parents, friends, teammates). It’s likely that you will need to actively block some of these thoughts out coming from others. Perhaps even a coach with good intentions has given you a few too many thoughts involving your technique. Make sure you stick to one or two thoughts that are most important to your success on the track.
- Stay positive and BELIEVE in yourself even when it’s tough to do so. Part of being mentally tough means staying stubbornly positive and optimistic despite adversity. Perhaps race day comes and it’s cold and rainy. Everyone around you is complaining. Be the only one telling yourself “I love this. I’ve trained hard in tough conditions. I have the advantage today”.
- In between each event, stretch or do some light drills. Do a few “starts” of your event whether that is out of the blocks, throws, hurdles, or jumps. This will help keep you and your teammates loose and will lower anxiety from just sitting around waiting for your event to start.
- Use warm-ups like a practice meet. Go all out during warm-ups to make sure your muscles and techniques are ready. At the beginning of your warm-up time, take it easy and gradually ramp it up to full intensity once you are in the middle of your warm up. For example, if you are a sprinter, start out your warm up at about 40% intensity. Gradually increase your runs until you reach your max a couple of times at the end of your warm-up. Don’t tire yourself out too much; but do use the warm-up time to get you ready.
- Don’t over or under eat/drink. Be full, but stop when you’re full. You should be fully hydrated when you compete.
- Stay in the present moment. Don’t look ahead or behind. If you lost or performed poorly, do NOT let the same opponent beat you twice. Just because you lost one race doesn’t mean you should go into the next one hanging your head. Your focus energy level will be too low to compete at your best. On the other side of the coin, do not celebrate or become too content when you win your event at a meet, pull off a big upset, or fulfill/exceed other people’s expectations of you. Just stay focused on the events ahead of you for that meet.
***11. Take advantage of a Free Mindset Trial Session with our team.